Kissing Jessica Stein (2002)
Film:
DVD:

Written by Heather Juergensen & Jennifer Westfeldt
Directed by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld
Starring Jennifer Westfeldt, Heather Juergensen, Scott Cohen, Tovah Feldshuh, Jackie Hoffman

Features:

• Running audio commentary by Westfeldt & Juergensen
  
• Running audio commentary by directer Herman-Wurmfeld & cinematographer Lawrence Sher
  
• Theatrical trailer
  
• Deleted scenes and outtakes with commentary by Westfeldt & Juergensen
  
• Featurette
  

Anamorphic: Yes.

My Advice: Rent it.

Jessica Stein (Westfeldt) is having a hard go on the dating scene. She's constantly going out with people who just don't measure up, while both being nagged by her mother (Feldshuh) and disapproved of by an ex (Cohen) she has the misfortune to work with. Desperate, confused and lonely, she answers a personal ad--from Helen (Juergensen). Can a straight girl who's bi-curious but won't admit to being bi-curious and a very sexually liberated woman have a relationship and not go insane?

This is the question that the film seeks to address, and for the most part, it does so beautifully. Westfeldt and Juergensen get hugs points for creating the play and then not letting it go to someone else, but taking their roles and moving them to the big screen. Not only are they both naturals, but their writing sense is almost flawless. They've managed to take a romantic comedy and make it into something novel, as opposed to the drek that normally masquerades as representative from that particular genre. Filled with extremely good laughs, it really is something to be celebrated. So is Tobah Feldshuh, who plays a particular porch scene with Westfeldt so well it's devastating. She is everyone's mother, all wrapped up in one character. Magnificent.

I have just described the first eighty-five minutes of this film. If that sounds like the kind of film you want to see, then stop--almost exactly eight-five minutes in. You'll know when, even without watching the timer on your DVD player. It's when the film feels like it's going to end, and then you realize it's when it should have ended. The seam in the film is unfortunately glaring. It's when those two same writers apparently decided they needed to make this into a completely different film, and--despite their comments on their audio track to the contrary--they lost sight of both their characters and their audience. I won't go into detail here, but if nothing else just come back the next day and watch the rest of the film if you must. But do enjoy the brilliance at least on its own before you let them try and ruin it for you. It's a further testament to the first eighty-five minutes that the remaining ten minutes, no matter how inconsistent, can't break it.

Another thing that can't be broken is the feature list. Yes, the trailer is positively atrocious. Also, the featurette is about two degrees better than most: mostly because it, like a lot of this film, has such an independent spirit, has such an interesting transition from the stage, and has the personalities of the two leading ladies to drive it.

The commentary tracks are both respectable. With director Herman-Wurmfeld and cinematographer Sher's track, you get a fairly decent balance of two film buddies goofing around with actual solid info. The stories--spread across both tracks--about what needed to be done in a lot of instances to bring this film to life are both inspiring and impressive. Best moment of their track had to be when Herman-Wurmfeld's cell phone (I believe it was his) went off and his response was basically, as he turned it off, "Hey, I'm in L.A., what can you do?"

The two scribes/lead actresses also have a very interesting time. Yes, they banter, but mostly they are going scene by scene and discussing shooting locations, lighting--everything that people who have their hands deep into a project know about and you would want to hear about. Granted, there is some overlap in information because of this, but it's interesting to hear the same stories from different perspectives. Also of note is their discussion about the implications of 9/11 and what led to their decision to remove the World Trade Center shots from their film. Rather than a kneejerk reaction, they actually gave the matter some serious consideration--earning them even more respect from yours truly.

There is a wealth of deleted scenes and outtakes, all presented together in one fell swoop. They are given commentary by the two ladies, but here they can get a little old--just a little. Since these are cut scenes, there are a great number of parts and lines and whatnot that wound up on the cutting room floor. Thus, since many many friends in their community were involved in the film, you wonder how many people they feel they have to apologize to. But this is small potatoes when compared to some of the hilarious things they have presented: everything from a party scene snippet that features cinematographer Sher doing "the worm" to hilarious outtakes of Esther Wurmfeld, who played Jessica's grandmother.

If it weren't for the godawful ending of the film, I'd tell you to own this thing hands down, no questions asked. But as it stands, I was so let down I just don't have the heart. I will tell you to make sure and rent the thing and remember the eighty-five minute cutoff. Although I must add that indie filmmakers will probably want to own the disc just for the wealth of interesting war stories and perhaps as a reminder that sometimes this stuff actually does make it to the big screen.